Although Goodwood's Moving Motor Show – the curtain-raiser for the Festival of Speed – is traditionally about moderns, both Porsche and Ford used it as an opportunity to showcase their heritage yesterday (11 July).
Keen to demonstrate its long-standing affiliation with hybrid power – with a host of ‘green’ models in its current lineup – Stuttgart brought to its stand an exacting replica of the Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus.
Developed in 1900 by eponymous Ferdinand, the Semper Vivus – meaning always alive – is powered by a pair of electric-hub motors. They are mounted in the front wheels and hooked up to individual batteries and generators turned by a pair of petrol engines, with no mechanical link to the driving wheels.
The three-year job of replicating the car was handed to the Porsche Museum and coachbuilder Hubert Drescher, using a mixture of replica parts and pre-existing components such as the DeDion Bouton engines.
Ford opted for a different stance lining up the company's iconic youngtimer XR2 next to its latest performance variant, the Fiesta ST.
The 1989 example on display had been owned by the same family for 15 years before being donated to Ford when the lady of the household decided to ‘reduce the size of the family fleet’.